Friends until the End
by Warfang
Summary: So I went back and made a Cyclonian version of 'a friend will, a best friend will'. This isn't as funny as the other one was. It's more serious. And a bit dark. But it's a mix, too.


FRIENDS: Never ask for anything to eat or drink.  
>BEST FRIENDS: Helps themselves and are the reasons why you have no food.<p>

"Snipe! Did you use if the last of the pickles for your sandwich!" Ravess' voice cut through the small kitchenette that was shared by the top generals.

"Uh, yes?"

"ARgh! At least write it down on the grocery list so more can be bought!" She stomped over to the white sheet and ripped off a piece savagely, before snatching up the pen and heading back to the fridge.

Snipe could hear her cursing and oathing all the way in the recreational room as she wrote out another grocery list and counted out the bills to send another errand boy shopping.

Dark Ace reached over and helped himself to a slice of the sandwich.

"When are you going to tell her you made her one?"

Snipe shrugged.

FRIENDS: Call your parents by Mr. and Mrs. and Grandpa, by Grandpa.  
>BEST FRIENDS: Call your parents DAD and MOM and Grandpa, GRAMPS!<p>

Dark Ace finished his report, and bowed before the matriarch of Cyclonia, Empress Cyclonis. She was gently stroking the nodding Master Cyclonis' head, the girl hugging her stuffed toy and trying to stay awake.

Dismissing the guards, she crooked a finger at Dark Ace.

"Yes, my Empress?"

"Carry her to bed and double check the traps around her room. Then you are dismissed."

"Of course."

"Dark Ace…."

"Of course, Grandmother."

He gently carried the seventy pounds of young ruler to her bed and tucked her in with her favorite dolly.

"Grandma really likes you."

Dark Ace paused in the doorway.

"Don't disappoint her."

"Of course, master."

FRIENDS: Would bail you out of jail.  
>BEST FRIENDS: Would be sitting next to you saying "DAMN! We messed up!"<p>

Snipe grumbled about the stupid slime crystal clogging up the engine for his new and improved Heliscooter, and occasionally let out a vicious grumble about the sharp shooter that put it there.

The Storm Hawks were certainly beginning to work together as a team. It was rather scary, Dark Ace reflected, how well the Storm Hawks could now read each other in battle.

Once they reported this to Master Cyclonis, undoubtedly training and research would be stepped up.

"How in Atmos did we screw up? We even had contingency plans!"

Dark Ace rolled his eyes.

"Snipe. We did not screw up. Ravess left with enough crystals for analysis and two Talons. The only snag here is that we were captured."

Snipe puzzled over the explanation for a moment, his ears slightly smoking as he figured out what Dar Ace meant.

"Lose the battle, win the war, you mean?"

Dark Ace nodded.

"And let's not tell the Storm Hawks that."

Snipe's face lit up and he nodded enthusiastically. Dark Ace wondered how some explanations went right over the giants' head, and vague hints were comprehended straight away.

Ah, well. At least the Storm Hawks couldn't hold them in the brig forever, and they would escape at some point.

The sound of a violin after they were traded into Harriers custody meant that Ravess hadn't even bothered to shower before heading back out to get them.

And the prisons on the Terra weren't moving targets.

FRIENDS: Have never seen you cry.  
>BEST FRIENDS: Won't tell everyone else you cried...just laugh about it with you in private when you're not down anymore.<p>

Master Cyclonis snarled and threw out another round house into the dummy. She was so close to figuring out another crystal matrix, and then Piper drops by to 'borrow' a certain crystal, and steals the configurations while she was at it!

Aside from the fact that Master Cyclonis was asleep when it happened, she was furious with herself.

The Talons on guard had been demoted, and all of them were severely lectured by Dark Ace, who was standing quietly off to the side, in the shadow of the entrance, the door closed behind him.

Palm strikes and a few knife hands later, Cyclonis rubbed at her eyes.

She was not crying, damnit. She was working off the frustration of four months worth of notes and references just gone.

It would have revolutionized the war, and now the Storm Hawks had the advantage! Piper was just smart enough to know what the writings were. Why hadn't she written them in cipher? Buy some time to retrieve her scrolls.

Punches were being thrown now. Cyclonis allowed the drilled shifting of her weight, the twist from her back foot to carry her full weight into the dummy.

She hadn't bothered putting on sparring gloves. Her knuckles were bloody.

Why? Why? Usually leaving her work on the desk meant that no one could steal it! The room was protected even when she wasn't in it, there were valuable and rare artifacts in there!

None of those had been stolen!

Cyclonis kicked the dummy a few more times, and then sagged to the floor. All those notes…and the books and scrolls had been returned to the library, finding the passageways alone could take weeks, and she didn't have weeks…

Dark Ace quietly padded over to her, offering a water bottle.

Cyclonis wordlessly snatched the drink and crushed it tossing in back in a chug. So what if she hurled? She wasn't going to. She had ultimate control.

The hiccups started after that.

She still refused to outright cry, and the suppressed chokes were turning into a rocking fit.

Dark Ace sat down and she twisted, clinging to him and burying her face into his cold armor, fogging it up with her heat.

"I worked so hard…"

Dark Ace held her.

A knock on the door.

Ravess quietly padded in. A scrap of parchment was in her hand.

Four hours ago, the Storm Hawks had dropped off the map. Three hours and forty-five minutes ago, Ravess and Snipe had gone after them. An hour ago, Cyclonis woke up wanting a glass of water to help her sleep, and had discovered the theft. Ten minutes ago, Ravess returned.

"This was all I could get. They had modified shield crystals that can repel Skimmers that don't have a negating crystal."

Cyclonis accepted the parchment gently.

"Do we have any idea how much they managed to read?"

"Piper fought me over the instructions, but I swept some off the table and into some sort of muck. No idea if they were retrievable after that. This is half of what wasn't damaged. The hand-writing looked like yours, so if it was the only thing of yours she had, at least they don't have a home court advantage."

Wiping her eyes, Cyclonis nodded.

"Rebuild it. All of it. I can do this."

She stood up, reading through the parchment, nodding to herself. She had spent weeks building every single detail. She could do this from memory.

Ravess quietly padded away at Master Cyclonis' dismissing wave. Dark Ace stayed long enough to see that she was served hot food for breakfast and ate, then he left.

She wasn't bothered with trivial details in running her empire that day.

FRIENDS: Asks you to write down your number.  
>BEST FRIENDS: Has you on speed dial.<p>

Snipe and Dark Ace were cleaning their Heliscooter and Skimmer, waiting for the Talons to finish up with their training exercises.

Snipe muttered something about updating the aerial tactical textbooks at school, snorting at unnecessary shows that did nothing more than run the crystal out of energy.

Dark Ace finished testing the balance on his skimmer when he heard a familiar chirp.

Snipe mouth 'whipped' at him as he immediately pressed the button to answer Master Cyclonis' hail.

Snipe's own Heliscooter chirped at him.

Dark Ace mouthed 'owned' back at him as Snipe answered Ravess' call about a missing shipment of donuts. After explaining to her why the ship docked and offloaded at a different port (some idiot had read his instructions upside down, so despite the signs that said which port was being worked on, he moved them to the currently operational port. Yeah, Snipe made that Talon feel stupid).

Dark Ace was talking to Master Cyclonis about some flight schedules that had nearly turned into an ugly snarl of traffic. She was muttering praise to him about the control towers idea that saved them from embarrassment.

Then she hung up right after his gracious acceptance, after ordering him to come to dinner on time.

"We are so owned." Snipe muttered.

"Well, we are on their speed dial." Dark Ace mused.

Snipe snorted.

"Like that means it's a two way street."

"Try calling her back."

Without thinking, Snipe thumbed the immediate call on his Heliscooter. Snickering, Dark Ace drove off, leaving Snipe to fluster about an 'accident' to his sister, who was quite busy fixing the snag for dinner.

After all, they were the only ones with those numbers.

FRIENDS: Borrows your stuff for a few days then gives it back.  
>BEST FRIENDS: Loses your stuff and tells you, "My bad...here's a tissue."<p>

Ravess had been looking through her halls for hours. How hard was it to find her violin? She knew she had put it back, lovingly waxed and sealed, into the cupboard until she needed it again!

Now where was it?

Snipe was shuffling into the room with a box. Rolling her eyes at her brother's never ending glut, she began to tear apart the boxes.

"Uhm, I brought you a box of tissues."

"And why do I need a box of tissues? I need my violin!" She snarled.

"Well, it may kinda have been lost, so you're going to need the tissues."

"….what?" the quiet hiss from Ravess as she turned around to her brother meant that her anger was building up.

"I think that the violin was accidently picked up with a shipment I had going out, so you may never see it again."

Ravess stormed at her brother. Snatching up the tissue box, she proceeded to beat him with it.

"How could you lose my violin! That was precious to me, you lout!"

"I know! I got it for you!"

Snipe had his arms held up in a peace sign, not attempting to block her attacks.

Ravess snarled. Then she spun around and stalked off with the box of tissues.

There was no way even a new violin would sound as good as the old one, and it was all Snipe's fault.

FRIENDS: Only know a few things about you.  
>BEST FRIENDS: Could write a very embarrassing biography on your life story...<p>

Snipe enjoyed violence and the direct and simple way of doing things.

Ravess preferred her approach to be more elegant, not elaborate.

Dark Ace would take a simple approach and throw in an unexpected twist, throwing his opponent.

Master Cyclonis sighed and wondered what possessed her to suggest the three of them work together, when each of them had no flexibility to change their mode of operation.

Of course, she had managed to do it her way.

By threatening Snipe she would tell the Talons about his teddy bear.

By promising Ravess more funds to the Opera house she was building up to save (Ravess ranted too much about Terra Neon and its crappy amusement. She craved art, real passion in art!)

And she told Dark Ace that she expected his best.

Really, when she could pull all of their strings, why did she need them to work together, when they all worked for her?

FRIENDS: Will leave you behind if that is what the crowd is doing.  
>BEST FRIENDS: Will kick the whole crowds a* that left you<p>

When it became clear that Cyclonia would fall, her armies abandoned her. They stole whatever they could carry and ran.

Snipe and Ravess refused to surrender, and forced the invading Sky Knights to shoot them down and capture them.

Dark Ace never convinced Master Cyclonis to go underground, and stayed with her through the arrest.

When the trials came, none of them accepted a plea or a lesser sentence.

Ravess was sentence to life for destruction of Terras and terrorizing people ( the Storm Hawks owned up to having to destroy the Terra her sound cannon was on).

Snipe was sentenced for brutality and libel- particularly on the Talon recruiting that he had done.

Dark Ace was tried and found guilty of treason, aiding the enemy, and maliciously carrying out his duties. Aerrow actually objected to Dark Ace being called malicious without a proper psychological evaluation. The Sky Knight Council gritted their teeth and dropped the charge.

Like it would lessen their sentence.

Master Cyclonis watched the Storm Hawks. Those children had grown up under the war. They had seen people die. Most likely, this was the first time they had seen people deliberate over killing others.

Then it was her turn.

Charges of attempting and succeeding in murder, of world domination, enslavement, double-crossing, and they even threw in pollution.

Then any defendants were called to the stand. Piper raised her hand.

"She has a lot of valuable knowledge concerning crystals that isn't anywhere else in Amtos. It would be easier to undo the damage with that knowledge."

The courtroom erupted in debate.

"What? It's true." Piper pointed out.

"Fine. She will be supervised and as much knowledge as can be gleaned from her. Then she will die." The Council smacked the mallet to signal the end of the discussion.

Piper's face blanked over, but she nodded and followed the Storm Hawks out.

Master Cyclonis saw the execution of Ravess and Snipe the following week. Dark Ace was being kept alive, for whatever reason.

There seemed to be a debate if he should be buried with his old team mates from the original Storm Hawk squadron.

Aerrow stated that he had no comment on it.

Years passed, and when Cyclonis was tired of working on crystal formulae, she and Dark Ace were escorted to the execution platform.

Dark Ace was killed before her.

The last thing she saw was the Storm Hawks standing in the crowd.

Piper wasn't crying.

FRIENDS: Would knock on your front door.  
>BEST FRIENDS: Walk right in and say "I'M HOME."<p>

Dark Ace was known to stroll right into the throne room without an invitation. Everyone assumed that was because their Master knew all or was expecting him.

But when Talons weren't guarding the door, Ravess and Snipe would walk right in, usually carrying soup and a table, to stand there and quietly wait for Master Cyclonis to notice them.

When she turned around and finally ate, they would murmur something.

"We're back."

FRIENDS: You have to tell them not to tell anyone.  
>BEST FRIENDS: Already know not to tell.<p>

Sometimes, Ravess tells Snipe to shut up. Occasionally, he just listens to her recital.

FRIENDS: Are only through high school/college. (aka: drinking buddies)  
>BEST FRIENDS: Are for life.<p>

How many years had he been shadowing her? For how long had he knelt before her, hand to his chest, loyalty breathed throw his vows?

Who had he killed on her orders? When did he question her?

…oh, right, when he had a valid point. Or a concern. Sometimes he just suggested a better way, and she would have to remind him why it seemed better, but on further inspection really wasn't.

She strongly suspected that he already knew that she was set on doing things her way when both options were viable, and neither had serious drawbacks.

But he was there for her.

Other generals were in her army for the glory of Cyclonia, for a taste of victory, for the chance to utilize the war as a means to inflict pain on Atmosia for their own ineptitude. They came and went, rising and falling in battle as the sun would on the days.

Only Dark Ace stayed, constant as the stars. Sometimes the stars were overlapped by the bright sun, but he was always there when the sun was gone.

FRIENDS: Would ignore this letter  
>BEST FRIENDS: Will repost this.<p>

Because I decided to do the Cyclonian version of 'A Friend, A best Friend Will' and yes, siblings can count in that category. So I basically came across a list of more of these, and since no one else made a list (that I know of- no one dropped me a line) I decided that even the Cyclonians should have a laugh.

Except it rapidly descended from a funny ha-ha to a sad and cynical kind of story. Good grief, why can't I write them without making it depressing?

I do not own Storm Hawks!

End of the story!


End file.
